Draft Notebook
Sampson leaves behind his troubled past
| Staff Report |
| May 29, 2009 |
OCALA, Fla.—There's a star quality about Keyvius Sampson. A brightness in his eyes, a softness in his voice, a laser for an arm.
There are also shadows.
The Florida prep flamethrower has everything going for him. A full ride to Florida State or the looming opportunity to sign a hefty pro contract, and the adoration of the community around him.
But he'll forever be haunted by events from his youth: a high-profile criminal case, as well as the death of his mother.
Sampson, 15 at the time, was driving two teenage friends in his mother's car the night of July 21, 2006, when the group was involved in an incident with two other teens. Police said one of Sampson's friends threatened the other teens with a .357-caliber Magnum revolver. When police later searched the vehicle they found the fully loaded revolver, another pistol, a pellet gun and two dark blue stocking masks. All three teens were charged with felonies.
Sampson cooperated with police and says he was not aware his friend had the gun. He spent two weeks in juvenile detention, then was expelled from Forest High in Ocala, Fla., and spent much of his sophomore year at a military-style institution.
"It was bad decision-making," he said. "I was with the wrong people at the wrong time, and it was a terrible event that happened. All three of us look back and wish that we had never done it."
Sampson's confident and affable nature shifts inward when he talks about the night he got in trouble and the months that followed. His smile fades and his eyes move down toward his feet, kicking at the ground below.
"Some parents don't say it, but I know they don't want their kids around me because I made that mistake," he told the Ocala Star-Banner last year. "I can't blame them."
The incident was widely reported in the local media. It spiraled into another controversy when a group of school administrators and a school board member appeared in court to support Sampson and his friends. The school board member later ran for the state legislature, and his support of Sampson became an election-cycle talking point.
Sampson had become famous, and it wasn't because of baseball. And things got much worse before they got better. Sampson's mother, Faye Manuel, died of a heart attack the following spring. She had been battling breast cancer, but Sampson felt responsible.
"In a way I feel like my mom's death was because of me," he later said. "Maybe that whole stress made her go over the limit and caused her having a heart attack. Me getting in trouble, I saw what it did to her."
The healing process was slow, but Sampson's humility and his willingness to accept support from the community helped him through.
He returned to Forest—and to the mound—as a junior and posted 10 wins and a 1.83 ERA. Now a senior, his fastball has touched 96 mph and he was 8-0, 0.83 with 127 strikeouts in 59 innings heading into the state's Class 5-A quarterfinals.
"He has gotten himself to a point where he's multiplied the ability he's had and just grown so much," Forest coach Wayne Yancey said. "People are coming from everywhere to see him pitch."
Yancey has coached five current minor leaguers (three of them pitchers) as well as former big leaguer pick Jonathan Johnson, a first-round pick by the Rangers in 1995.
"It wouldn't be right for me to compare them," Yancey said, "because none of those guys threw as hard as Keyvius is throwing right now."
As a lanky 6-foot-1, 190-pound 18-year-old, Sampson seems the obvious candidate to fill out and add even more velocity.
"I can get a lot better," he said. "There's a lot of things I can work on, as far as my mechanics and how my arm slot is, getting more consistent with the strike zone and controlling all my pitches."
Sampson's turbulent journey has given him both faith and purpose. He's exceedingly polite and friendly, wearing Bible verses on his hat and arm band during games. He also goes out of his way to encourage teammates, and he's the rare teen invited to middle and elementary schools for speaking engagements.
He said he finds his new status as a community darling "kind of surprising," adding, "Sometimes you make one mistake and people judge you for a lifetime. When people I've never met tell me they admire the things I've overcome, it's eye-opening, and in some ways kind of exciting."
—Andy Marks, Ocala Star-banner
Arizona Plans For Extra Picks
PHOENIX—Josh Byrnes just had enough time to talk while waiting for his luggage at an East Coast airport—if he told you which one, he'd have to kill you—during one of his many scouting forays this spring.
The Diamondbacks have seven of the first 64 picks in the draft this year, a haul that could help restock a system thinned the last three years because of big league graduation and trades that landed Randy Johnson, Dan Haren and Adam Dunn at the cost of Brett Anderson, Carlos Gonzalez and 11 others.
"You think in terms of timetables and when you could anticipate the next wave (of players ready to take over at the major league level)," said Byrnes, who can afford to look a short distance into the future because of a parent team that includes young regulars Justin Upton (21), Chris Young (25), Stephen Drew (26) and Conor Jackson (26).
"We can build for that," he said. "And (extra picks) give you the depth that can help you make trades. This class will help us build on that. Our system is still in pretty good shape. We have a couple of higher-end prospects and depth around them."
Arizona's top prospects are righthander Jarrod Parker (first round, 2007), lefthander Daniel Schlereth (first round, 2008) and outfielder Gerardo Parra, but only Parra had more than limited experience at Double-A.
After failing to work out a long-term contract with Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson late in the 2007 season, the Diamondbacks were content to let him enter the free agent market because of the draft picks they would net. Same with righthanded relievers Brandon Lyon and Juan Cruz, who became free agents after the 2008 season and never were candidates for a new offer.
The acquisition of free agent-to-be Dunn from the Reds for Micah Owings and two minor leaguers at the 2008 deadline also was made with an eye toward the draft picks Dunn would command. But when the economy soured, Arizona did not offer arbitration to Dunn, for fear it would end up with his big contract, and lost any potential draft picks.
Still, Type A free agents Hudson and Cruz and Type B Lyon netted them five extra picks: a first-rounder, three sandwich picks after the first round, and an extra second-rounder.
The players selected with those picks received about $7.4 million in bonuses last season, and Byrnes indicated the Diamondbacks have enough in the budget to make that work. During negotiations with veteran free agents last winter, the team justified offers by saying it needed to conserve money for the draft.
"All budgets relate to each other. It all comes out of the same pot," Byrnes said.
The Diamondbacks are one of three teams that will have at least three extra picks, along with the Brewers and Angels. The Brewers got two picks for losing C.C. Sabathia and one for losing Brian Shouse as free agents, while the Angels got five extra picks for losing free agents Francisco Rodriguez (two), Mark Teixeira (two) and Jon Garland (one). The Angels lost their own first-rounder for signing Brian Fuentes, however, so they'll have picks Nos. 24, 25, 40, 42 and 48.
—Jack Magruder
Oliver Won't Blame NCAA
When he looks back on a so-so junior season, Oklahoma State lefthander Andy Oliver could resort to predictable finger-pointing if he wanted to.
The NCAA suspended him at the end of the 2008 season for ostensibly hiring an agent, and didn't reverse that decision until the eve of the 2009 season, in spite of a court decision in Oliver's favor. That could explain his downturn from a year ago and shed light on why most scouts regard his season as a disappointment.
Oliver won't go that far. "I really don't think about it much," Oliver said. "I've just put it behind me and focused on the season and want to help my team win."
He says his 2009 season has come down to something much simpler. "The biggest thing is two outs and in crucial situations, it seems like (hitters) find a way to put it in play," he said. "I'll put up a crooked number and basically put us behind as a team."
Rated as BA's No. 7 college prospect entering the season, after a good sophomore campaign and impressive tour for USA Baseball's college national team, Oliver's sporadic performance has left scouts unsure what to make of him—or the weight they should give to his wrangling with the NCAA. They still love his 6-foot-3, 212-pound frame and see promise in his fastball, which has sat 89-94 mph.
Yet his curveball and slider have graded below-average, and the consistency that many expect of a Friday starter has come into question. Oliver has struck out 11, 10 (twice) and nine this season, but he's also been mediocre in road games against Nebraska and Kansas.
"Truthfully, I kind of feel sorry for the kid," said a National League crosschecker. "Hopefully somebody takes him and he gets going back the way he did last summer.
"You can't walk by a kid like that, a lefthander with strength and size."
To Oliver, it's his responsibility to make sure scouts see his value. And with O-State facing the real possibility of missing its conference tournament for the first time since 1977, he hoped to rise to the occasion. He started with a solid outing at Texas A&M, where he struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings.
"Pitchers, when they get two outs, they let down a little bit. And in most of these games, that's when I would get hit," Oliver said. "That's what I have to focus on. I have to treat it the same way as any batter, in any situation.
"When I'm ahead in the count and I have two strikes on somebody, I'll try to throw a pitch where it'll be close. And they end up hitting it, instead of me expanding their zones."
Scouts and Oklahoma State coach Frank Anderson can't help but wonder how much his lawsuit against the NCAA knocked Oliver off course this year.
On Feb. 12, an Ohio judge ruled the NCAA cannot restrict a player's right to have legal representation when negotiating a professional contract and, in essence, invalidated the NCAA's "no agent" and "restitution" rules.
The case went to court after O-State, under pressure from the NCAA, ruled Oliver ineligible on the eve of the school's 2008 regional opener. OSU learned that Oliver's adviser/lawyer, Tim Barratta, was present during contract talks three years earlier when the Twins drafted him out of Vermilion (Ohio) High.
Anderson believes the lawsuit had a lingering effect. "Human nature, you would think so," he said. "Most people would show it. I know I would."
Oliver enjoyed a tremendous sophomore season in 2008. In firing the 44-win Cowboys to a No. 1 regional seed, he finished 7-2, 2.20 and struck out 96 (against 36 walks) in 98 innings. From there, he pitched for a Team USA squad that finished the summer 24-0, going 2-0, 0.93 with 23 strikeouts in 19 innings.
He's still getting strikeouts this year, with 84 in 70 innings, and has issued 28 walks in posting a record of 5-5, 4.99. But . . .
"He's really kind of fallen off the board from where he was. This guy had the potential to be a high first-round pick," the crosschecker said. "But his struggles and inability to throw a breaking ball have dropped him off a little bit."
"I know guys that have seen him have seen a curveball out of him, and now he's trying to throw a slider. Sometimes it's fair and sometimes it's a little non-existent. He's still got a good fastball and he's got a big league body. But you can't pitch with just one pitch."
Anderson said Oliver also has been hurt by offseason departures that have weakened the Cowboys' defense, making him more hesitant to pitch to contact.
The win at Texas A&M, however, left Oliver optimistic that he is turning a corner.
"For the most part, I was getting ahead and that helped to experiment outside the zone. When I needed to make a pitch, I made it," he said. "I just want to give my team a chance to get into the Big 12 tournament and go as far as we can. I'm going to give everything I've got."
—Kary Booher
Restless in Seattle
SEATTLE—It's the seventh inning of an early May game at Husky Ballpark and the crowd is in a frenzy, but not because the Diamond Dawgs are in the middle of a back-and-forth game against Southern California.
Jake Locker is here. The Jake Locker. The quarterback and face of Husky football and one of the few local blue-chippers to turn down other programs to play for the local team after its decline from the early-1990s heyday.
It's Little League night at the ballpark and hordes of 10- to 12-year-old boys—and even a few of their dads—swarm Jake for autographs and to get a glimpse of their idol up close.
"Dad, you can't ever wash these pants again," one kid exclaimed.
"Why?," his dad asked.
"Because I got Jake Locker to sign them!"
Another kid, equally excited about the 2009 football schedule he got autographed, handed it to his dad with this warning: "Keep that in mint condition—don't let it get bent at all. Seriously, it's worth more than your watch."
One look at Locker and it's obvious that he's a special athlete with a body that would make most superheroes jealous: muscles from his earlobes to his shoulders, softballs for biceps and legs that allow him to burst into a 4.5-second, 40-yard dash at the drop of a hat.
His athleticism also is tantalizing to baseball scouts, and there aren't many storylines more fascinating than his.
"The best guy out here is the one that isn't playing," an American League area scout said. "He wants to play football and, God bless him, that's his right. But he's got tools upon tools."
Another scout said that if Locker focused on baseball he could be a potential Hall of Famer. At Ferndale (Wash.) High, just minutes from the Canadian border, Locker played football, basketball and baseball. As a senior in 2006, he led his football team to a 14-0 record and a 3-A state championship.
He was drafted that summer by the Angels in the 40th round, but turned them down to play football.
"The reason I chose not to do both is because I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to be great at one thing," Locker said. "I didn't want to feel like I wasn't giving one sport everything I had. I didn't want to look back in 10 or 15 years and think, 'Man, if I had just focused on that, where would I be right now?' Football's my first love, so I made the decision when I got here that I was going to devote everything I had to playing football and be the best player I could and then go from there."
Locker admitted he misses playing three sports and competing year-round. He misses baseball too, which is why he spent last summer playing in the West Coast Collegiate League for the Bellingham Bells, ranking as BA's No. 1 prospect in the league.
"I enjoyed it. Obviously it's something I did because I missed it," Locker said. "I missed playing a little bit and it was the first time in my life that I had only played one sport year-round and it was hard for me."
Ultimately, he's still dedicated to football. Washington's new coach, Steve Sarkisian, will install a new pro-style offense, which could boost Locker's NFL draft stock if he plays well. Regardless, football scouts say Locker is good enough to play safety at the next level. He'll be a professional athlete one way or another, but it probably won't be as a baseball player.
"For me, I have a different feeling when I put the pads on," he said. "There's a different attitude that comes with playing the game, an attitude that I've never taken in any other sport."
—Conor Glassey